Exactly five months ago, Michael Williams embarked on the journey of his life — a 4,265-kilometre hike from the U.S.-Mexico border north through searing deserts and along chilly alpine ridges to Canada at British Columbia’s Manning Provincial Park.

Along the way, the Atlanta economist celebrated his 65th birthday and became eligible for Medicare.

He landed a job with the Internal Revenue Service then gave it back because they wanted him to start work before he could finish his epic adventure. “At my age, I might not have another opportunity,” he reckoned.

He also suffered from fatigue, aches, blisters and cellulitis, a bacterial skin infection that sidelined him for 11 days.

“The difficulty of doing it will stick with me,” said Williams, accompanied on his final steps of the trail by the The Vancouver Sun and his wife, Patricia Rice, who flew in for the occasion.

“I won’t beat around the bush. It wasn’t easy. It took all of my courage, focus, determination, and desire to actually do it.”

A record of more than 1,400 permits were issued, mainly to Americans, this year for trips exceeding 800 kilometres on the Pacific Crest Trail — known simply as PCT and designated as a National Scenic Trail by the U.S. Congress in 1968.

A minority of “thru-hikers” are expected to finish the entire route this year. The “section hikers” aim to complete the route in chunks over a number of years.

The trail starts at the small border town of Campo, east of San Diego, and wends its way northward through the Sierra Nevada mountains of California and on to the Cascade range through Oregon and Washington before reaching its official terminus at border Monument 78 next to Manning park.

Some thru-hikers pop a bottle of champagne, get their photos taken next to the monument, then head south again to Hart’s Pass, near Highway 20 northeast of Seattle.

Others hike for another three or four hours into B.C. through Manning park to Highway 3. That’s where they catch a Greyhound bus west to Vancouver or are picked up by friends or family.

The steady malodorous trickle of trim but tired bodies, gimpy legs, and bushy beards marks the fall season in Manning park as much as the first traces of snow or the leaves of cottonwoods adopting an amber hue.

The Sun recently found several hikers lounging outside Manning Park Resort, all smiles and freshly showered, and still coming to terms with the fact they are no longer the same person who started the journey.

“It makes you a better person,” reflected 26-year-old Ryan Iker — trail name, Spork — who will return to his job as a gourmet pizza parlour manager in Tucson, Ariz. “You gain perspective. You are more relaxed. You see things for how they are. And you’re healthier. I’m in the best shape of my life.”

Iker power-finished the trip, hiking almost 14 hours a day to cover 450 kilometres in the last nine days. “I wanted to see what my body could do through some of the roughest terrain on the whole trail,” he said.

Hikers more typically travelled 30 to 40 kilometres per day, hitting the trail around daylight and off to bed by darkness.

Landon Wenger, 23, of Elgin, Iowa, earned a lesson in solitude and simplicity on the trail.

“You realize what you want and what you actually need very quickly,” he said, catching up on emails on the resort’s lobby computer. “You can get by with a lot less.”

Hikers awed at the natural beauty of places such as Evolution Basin in California, Eagle Creek Trail in Oregon, and Goat Rocks Wilderness, Wash., also had their faith restored in humanity.

“You meet the most genuine and generous people out there,” said Wenger, who just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal ecology. “You share the common bond and struggle. That was a real highlight.”

So-called Trail Angels voluntarily opened up their homes to hikers who needed a shower or laundry facilities or place to tent, as well as cached water in the desert or left coolers and buckets on the trail stocked with food or beer.

That proved to be a source of surprise or disappointment, depending on when you arrive.

“You get to the point where you can’t expect anything to be in them, because most of the time there’s not,” explained Corbett Wicks, 22, of Charlottesville, Virginia, who hiked the trail in a light cotton dress for comfort. “It’s quite disappointing, an empty cooler.”

Hikers bought food in small towns along the way and had their favourite items mailed to post offices, resorts, grocery stores or other outlets along the way.

About every four days — but twice that in some stretches — hikers encountered a road leading to a nearby small town where they could call home, wash clothes, and gulp down cool beer and fattening food such as pizza.

“Even the trashy American Coors or Bud or whatever is nice,” said Thomas Molyneux, 38, of Liverpool, England. “Beer is always first on the agenda.”

One day, Young Geezer ate two McDonalds burritos then wandered into a shopping centre next door and bought a container of eight pieces of fried chicken. “I went outside, sat on one of the chairs and ate all eight pieces,” he recalled. “And I had a milk shake and a bag of doughnuts. And I ate it all. Not like I threw up or anything. I was hungry.”

Because the towns were close together, most hikers travelled light; packs averaged 30 pounds, including food, tent, minimal clothing and rain gear, which, ironically, proved to be the most unnecessary item of the trip.

Hikers experienced almost no rain on the entire journey, making 2012 a classic year to do the route.

Trail food varied widely.

Breakfast for Wicks — trail name Jugs, and not what you think — typically consisted of a granola bar, cereal or Pop-Tart, without the toaster-inducing pop, of course. Later, she’d have more granola bars and trail mix, with a dehydrated rice-base meal or macaroni and cheese for dinner.

“Anything in a wrapper,” Wenger added. “Anything calorie-dense.”

Williams’ favourite lunch was tortillas with peanut butter on the top and Nutella (a spread made from roasted hazelnuts, skim milk, and cocoa) on the bottom.

“You roll it so they don’t intermingle,” he offered. “The peanut butter is like a sandwich and the Nutella like a dessert.”

Although Wicks maintained her weight, men typically lost 15 to 30 pounds on the trip.

Hikers carried trekking poles and wore trail running shoes— beefed-up versions of standard running shoes — that allowed them to travel faster along trails that were generally well-maintained and easy to follow.

Many went through three or four pairs.

Hikers carried point-and-shoot cameras, a book or Kindle, cards or iPods or such that allowed them to listen to music or Podcasts and break the monotony of the trail. Some also had GPS-based devices that allowed them to inform family they were okay or to summon emergency assistance.

At times, the trail served as an endurance test for relationships.

Chad Sullivan, 41, and his girlfriend, Stacia Marks, 36, are both firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service in Wenatchee, Wash.

Being together continuously for so many months posed its challenges. Some days they hiked separately for a while to give each some personal space or maybe to cool off after an argument.

Even seemingly small things such as how long they should chat to other hikers on the trail sometimes became a source of discontent.

“You run into a lot of people on the trail,” she said. “If you stop and talk to everybody, you spend all day talking. But I think we did well and made it through.”

Marks was treated for giardia during the trip, but the health threats to hikers didn’t stop there.

Just one hour away from Manning resort, The Sun found Britain’s Tanya Savage consoling her partner, Neil, pale and flat on the ground. She declined assistance, and later contacted The Sun by email to report he had contracted Rocky Mountain spotted fever from a tick and ended up at Lion’s Gate Hospital in North Vancouver.

“He’s out of hospital now,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll appreciate it’s not been the best of weeks....”

Only one hiker interviewed by The Sun reported feeling threatened by wildlife.

“We had a bear sniff the tent outside one night,” said Sullivan. “Of course, I had the beef jerky on my side. We were so close to (Lake) Tahoe, we said, ‘ah, let’s just sleep with our food tonight.’” They scared the bear away without further incident.

Hikers didn’t not see as much large game as you might imagine on such a long trip.

Brandon Swinsick, 29, who works at an outdoor equipment store in Kalamazoo, Mich., did better than most. He also counted deer, elk, mountain goats, pine marten, and badger among his sightings.

“It was crazy,” he added while camping with The Sun his last night of his trip. “I was literally one hour and 10 minutes from the Mexican border when I almost stepped on a huge rattlesnake.

“It was in the middle of the trail, coiled back and hissing. I saw so many in the desert.”

The desert offered some of the greatest challenges of the trip.

The heat caused excessive sweating and blistering on the feet, while the constant sand amounted to walking on sandpaper. People hiked early and late, and sometimes overnight to avoid the heat of day.

That’s where Wicks got her trail name, dangling two large water-filled Gatorade bottles from her pack.

“It’s kind of sad because I don’t have my jugs any more,” she said. “My name doesn’t really make sense.”

She started the trail alone but spent most of the route with two men, one from Washington state and the other also from Virginia.

She never felt threatened. “I couldn’t be more safe out here.”

Wicks now wants to complete the Triple Crown of U.S. long-distance hikes.

The other two are the Appalachian Trail, which runs some 3,500 kilometres through 14 states on the east coast, and the Continental Divide Trail, spanning 5,000 kilometres from New Mexico to Montana.

“I’m not looking forward to going back into the real world,” said Wicks, who just obtained her bachelor’s degree in environmental science. “I’ve been walking every day for so long. It’s going to be weird to fit back into society again.”

As she walked through a cool grove of Sitka spruce near journey’s end, she thought back on the trip and confided that spending so much time with other hikers provided to be a surprise.

“There were always other people there,” she said. “I would have liked more solitude. It’s like a big hiker family, some incredible people, but there are just so many of them.”

Conditions won’t get better any time soon.

Cheryl Strayed’s best-selling book, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, an Oprah Book Club selection, has been optioned to actor Reese Witherspoon’s production company, with the Legally Blonde star expected to play the lead role. Strayed, hikers are quick to point out, hiked only part of the trail.

“It’s kind of sad,” Wicks concluded. “A lot of hikers are upset. It will probably be a big movie and will bring a lot of hikers out that wouldn’t necessarily be there.”

Just like the hikers who sweated their way to the finish, it appears the trail may also never be the same again.

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Hiking from Mexico to Canada along the Pacific Crest Trail (with video)

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